The Lord (Continued)

The Lord tells us in John that he gained control over the hells: as his suffering on the cross was impending, Jesus said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out” (John 12:27, 28, 31); and again, “Take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33); and in Isaiah, “‘Who is this who is coming from Edom, approaching in the immensity of his strength, and having the power to save?’ ‘My own arm brought about salvation for me.’ Therefore he became their Savior” (Isaiah 63:1–19; 59:16–21).

He also tells us in John that he glorified his human nature and that the suffering on the cross was his last crisis of the spirit and the complete victory that brought about his glorification:

After Judas went out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Humanity is glorified, and God will glorify him in himself and glorify him immediately.” (John 13:31, 32)

And again,

Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may also glorify you. (John 17:1, 5)

And again,

“Now my soul is troubled. Father, glorify your name.” And a voice came from heaven, saying, “I both have glorified it and will glorify it again.” (John 12:27, 28)

Also in Luke,

Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer this and enter into his glory? (Luke 24:26)

He made these statements concerning his suffering on the cross. To “glorify” is to make divine.

This now shows that unless the Lord had come into the world and become human and in this way had freed from hell all who believe in him and love him, no human being could have been saved. That is how to understand the statement that there is no salvation apart from the Lord [Acts 4:12].

When the Lord fully glorified his human nature he divested himself of the human nature from his mother and put on a human nature from his Father, which is the divine-human nature. As a result, he was no longer the son of Mary.

The first and foremost duty of a church is to know and acknowledge its God, since without this knowledge and acknowledgment there can be no joining with God. In the Christian church, then, there is no joining with God without acknowledgment of the Lord. The Lord tells us this in John:

Those who believe in the Son have eternal life. Those who do not believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God abides on them. (John 3:36)

And elsewhere,

If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

The fact that the Trinity—divinity itself, the divine-human nature, and divinity emanating—exists within the Lord is a secret revealed by heaven for those people who will be in the holy Jerusalem.